World No 6 Kevin Anderson, on Wednesday, confirmed his participation for the 2019 Tata Open Maharashtra, a ATP 250 series event to be played at the Mhalunge Balewadi Stadium in Pune.
Anderson, 32, was the runner-up of the tournament’s last edition. He also recently became the first South African in over two decades to qualify for season-ending ATP Tour Finals after beating Japan’s Kei Nishikori in the finals of Vienna Open on Sunday.
“We are delighted to have him back and will be one our star attractions for this year’s tournament,” said Tata Open Maharashtra’s tournament director Prashant Sutar.
“I happened to meet Kevin during Wimbledon and he expressed his willingness to come back to Pune as he was happy about how our event was conducted overall,” he added.
Anderson was one of the top players in the tournament along with Marin Cilic, Simon Gilles among others. In 2018, Anderson peaked at his career-high ranking of world No 5 on July 16, becoming the highest-ranked South African in the ATP rankings history.
He also advanced to his second Grand Slam final at Wimbledon where he lost to Novak Djokovic in straight sets. Enroute to the finals, Anderson had epic wins against American John Isner and world No 2 Roger Federer.
He also made it to the finals of 2018 Abierto Mexicano Telcel presentado por HSBC Open (ATP 500) losing to Juan Martin Del Potro. A couple of weeks before that, he won the New York Open (ATP 250) beating Sam Querrey in the finals.